Annual Meeting of the American College of Wound Healing and Tissue Repair Highlights Major New Concepts in Tissue Repair

CHICAGO, Dec. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The 3rd Annual Meeting of the American College of Wound Healing and Tissue Repair was convened in Chicago, attended by 280 physicians, nurses, researchers, industry leaders, government representatives, and patients.  The two day conference was co-chaired by Dr. William Ennis, Professor of Surgery at University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), and Dr. William Li, president of the Angiogenesis Foundation.  

"This year, the ACWH's educational meeting program featured 26 of the nation's leading experts from 17 institutions discussing cutting edge clinical concepts and scientific research that impacts wound healing," said Dr. Ennis, president and co-founder of the College.

Chronic wounds caused by diabetes, vascular disease, and unrelieved pressure, affect between 5 and 7 million people in the U.S. each year, at a cost to the healthcare system of an estimated $20 billion dollars. Yet, wound healing research is funded by NIH only at levels comparable to that for rare diseases, like fragile X syndrome, despite patients with wounds having 5 year mortality rates similar to that of colon cancer.

Highlights from this year included:

- New stem cells discoveries. Dr. Amelia Bartholomew (UIC) discussed new data suggesting it may one day be possible to regenerate human tissues for healing, like salamanders regenerate their limbs.

- Patient safety. Dr. David Mayer, Managing Director at the National Transportation Safety Board, shared key lessons learned at the NTSB from investigations of plane, train, and oil pipeline disasters. The emphasis was on how teams must be trained to follow procedures in order to avoid errors. This theme was given a clinical focus by Dr. Timothy McDonald a patient safety and risk officer who discussed the importance of honesty and full disclosure with patients when errors occur.

- Patient centered outcomes. Dr. Ennis presented findings from a multi-stakeholder summit organized by the College and the Angiogenesis Foundation to define values and outcomes that are meaningful to patients suffering from chronic wounds.  A White Paper on this topic can be downloaded at:  http://www.acwound.org/news/woundcarewhitepaper.pdf

- Social media. Dr. Farris Timimi (Mayo Clinic) described the emerging role of social media as patients seek out information and collaborations outside of the traditional healthcare system, and how this may help improve disease state awareness, build new patient communities, and create new avenues for research.

- Systemsness - Dr. J Sanford Schwartz from the the Wharton School described how "systemness" is now being described throughout healthcare. As accountable care organizations continue to grow, wound care is a disease state for testing the effectiveness of these concepts.

- Live surgical cases.  A number of live outpatient clinic and operating room cases were presented from UIC.

Systems biology- A number of state of the art research presentations that focused on diverse organ systems that have implications for the field of wound healing.

"It is the purpose of ACWH's annual meeting to stimulate new ideas for wound care, and create interdisciplinary content that is not found at any other meeting in the wound care field" said Dr. Li, co-chair for the conference.

Lead sponsors of the 2013 College meeting included executive platinum sponsors: Kinetic Concepts Inc. and Smith & Nephew Biotherapeutics; silver sponsors: Kreg Therapeutics, Novadaq Technologies, Organogenesis; ACWH supporters: Accelecare Wound Centers, Healogics, Shire; and twelve other sponsors.

The American College of Wound Healing and Tissue Repair (www.acwound.org) is a nonprofit organization based in Chicago, IL., whose mission is to advance the field of wound healing and by establishing wound care as a formal medical specialty.

Contact:
ACWH
[email protected] 
312-413-7756

SOURCE American College of Wound Healing and Tissue Repair